A Whole New World, A Strange New Girl
by Koinuryu
Summary: About a character I made myself and inserted into the Naruto universe.  If you hate these kinds of fics, don't read it.  She makes friends, faces the demons of her past, etc.  Read and Review, hope you enjoy.
1. The Dance

1(The Dance)

Ryu followed Kakashi down a series of long hallways, waiting to meet her fellow contestants. It was going to be hard to explain to them why she had special permission to bypass the first two sections of the exam, but she figured that Kakashi would do most of the explaining for her. She wondered what the other Genin were like; she spent most of her time with people much older than her, and much higher rank. She had argued with Hokage about becoming Chuunin, because it was a leadership position, and she didn't want to be a leader. She told him that she wasn't fit to lead, even if she was strong enough to achieve the rank, but he didn't listen. She had thought that when she got a high ranking mission that was in a direct conflict with the Chuunin exam, he would let her skip it, yet here she was, on her way to the dance to honor the Chuunin exam finalists. She sighed, wondering if this was going to be an extremely dull night.

Kakashi opened the door to the dance hall, and she scanned the room with her eyes quickly, to see what everyone was doing and what everyone was like. She noticed no one was dancing, and that everyone seemed to be divided by village. She saw one man standing alone, his headband showing he was from the village of sound, and three in another corner from the village of sand. She sighed again, realizing the finalists from leaf village were divided further, a man with sunglasses and almost no skin showing was standing in one corner, next a man with a byakugan a few feet away, another few feet away a man with his hair in a ponytail, and then two other people occupying the other corner. Suddenly, she realized that while she'd been staring at her fellow Genins, they had been staring back. All eyes seemed to be on her. She gulped, and flashed a sociable smile at them all. Kakashi cleared his throat.

"There is going to be another contestant in the main matches. This is usually not allowed under any circumstances, but she has been given special permission from the Hokage considering the situation." Kakashi winked at her and then turned and left, closing the door behind him. The stares hadn't stopped. For a moment, she considered turning around and leaving, but her inner strength pushed her to go and try to find someone to talk to. She noticed a shortish boy in an orange jumpsuit staring at her with particular intensity. Curiosity overwhelmed her, and she headed his way.

"Why do you stare at me like you hate me?" She asked, "You don't even know me." The boy's face seemed to soften as he realized the way he had been staring her down.

"I…well…I don't hate you. It's just…" The blond boy paused momentarily, "We all worked so hard to get here, and you…you just waltz in like it was all for nothing!" He finished, his anger returning. Ryu's eyes widened, realizing that's what everyone in the room must be thinking.

"I'm sorry…" She said quietly. "I was on a reconnaissance mission for Konoha." She whispered, remembering that she couldn't let him know too much. The blond boy seemed to perk up, interested.

"What did you find out?" He whispered back in an excited tone. She frowned.

"I wish I could tell you…top secret." She looked at him, serious all of the sudden. "I can tell you this, watch your back." She glanced over at the sand and sound finalists. "Some of our 'allies' aren't so, well…allied. I wish I could say more." She realized that the other boy in the corner was eyeing the two of them. His headband said he was from her village, so she spoke up. "Can I help you with something?" Ryu said, looking the kid in the eye. The black-haired boy looked quickly away. "Why was he staring at us?" She asked the blond boy curiously.

"Oh, that's just Sasuke." He said dismissively. "I'm just glad you're not drooling over him, all the other girls seem to."

"Sasuke, huh?" She laughed, and then made sure her voice was loud enough for the black-haired boy to hear. "I don't get what they see in him." The blond boy grinned widely. Suddenly she realized something. "I forgot to tell you my name." She said in a surprised tone, "My name is Aara, though my friends call me Ryu for the most part."

"Nice to meet ya, Ryu." The boy replied, identifying he considered the two of them friends. "They call me Uzumaki Naruto, and I'm going to be Hokage one day!" he exclaimed, grinning widely. Ryu couldn't help but smile.

"I could see that." She assured him. The black-haired boy, Sasuke, had gone back to watching them. "No one's dancing." She commented, looking around. "Though I suppose it's because there's only ten people, and four of them are from another village." Naruto nodded. A "tch" noise came from behind them.

"Or maybe, it's because there are eight men, and two girls." Sasuke commented sarcastically. "Nobody knows you, and nobody wants to dance with the sand village girl." Ryu spun so she was facing the kid, and looked him up and down. Getting a better look at him, she saw why the girls liked him so much, he was attractive. _If he's attractive, and alone, he must have issues like nobody's business_, she thought, still watching him. "Can I help you?" He mocked, smirking at her. She recovered quickly.

"Not in the least." She replied, frowning. She turned back to Naruto. "Wanna dance?"

"Hai-desu!" Naruto exclaimed, flashing a smile in Sasuke's direction as if to say 'ha-ha I win'. He took her hand and they were off to the dance floor. At first, all eyes were on them as they spun and twirled. Sasuke's expression was complete surprise as he saw the grace she gave Naruto as they danced. After about a half hour had passed and no one had joined them, they headed back to their corner. The sound ninja made his way over to them.

"Ryu was it?" he said. She instantly realized he must have overheard the whole conversation.

"Hai." She said simply, not turning to face him.

"Can we go have a little chat outside then, Ryu?" the words oozed out of his mouth in mock friendliness.

"As you wish." She smiled in mock courtesy, and then followed him outside. Kakashi spotted them and started to say something, for you weren't actually allowed to leave the dance until it was over, but Ryu's voice popped into his head, speaking with telepathy. _He's going to try and kill me. He's an idiot. I'll be back…he won't…please inform Hokage as to why there will be one less contestant._ Kakashi nodded silently. As soon as they reached a safe distance from where anyone would see, the sound ninja turned to face her.

"I think you know a little too much, Miss "Ryu"." He smirked, drawing his weapon. "If you think that I'm going to let you interfere with our plan to attack Konoha, you're gravely mistaken." He rolled up his sleeve to reveal his the instrument on his arm, and then charged at her. She frowned, and summoned up a seal to break the weapon. The ninja stopped in his tracks as the object on his arm shattered, and then began to back away.

"That was what made you so powerful, so cocky. It won't help you now. I'm sorry, I hope you have no regrets…you won't live much longer." She stated coldly, surprising him. She used her fast hands to do a very forbidden jutsu. "Death Jutsu!" she called out, completing the seal. The sound ninja's body went rigid, and he fell to the ground, not moving. She sighed, using a powerful move like that had taken a lot out of her, but she wanted to get things done fast and clean. She headed back towards the dance hall. When she arrived she nodded to Kakashi, and he nodded in return, opening the door for her. Her eyes instinctively flashed toward the village of sand ninja, considering they were soon to be enemies. She wondered if they would try to kill her as well. She stopped in her tracks when her eyes met the intense, icy-blue spheres of a short red-haired boy. For an instant she was overwhelmed with such pain and sorrow that she thought she would sink to her knees and cry. After this moment passed, with much concentration she pried her gaze away from the boy and turned her attention to Naruto and Sasuke. Being an empath, and feeling what other people feel could be a major advantage in battle, but it had moments that made Ryu wish she didn't have the ability.

"Ryu!" Naruto exclaimed, the same goofy grin on his face. Instantly her misery was wiped away. She even had the courage to give one backwards glance to that sand ninja, who was still eying her intensely.

"Naruto!" She exclaimed in return, giving him a hug and for a moment appreciating his bountiful happiness. She guessed this was why she hadn't noticed the other boy as much before, the blond boy seemed to be a beacon of optimism.

"Where'd the sound ninja go?" Naruto inquired curiously, trying to piece what he had wanted from her together in his mind. She frowned, thought for a moment, and replied.

"Your not allowed to leave the dance…He was just using me as an excuse to get out without Kakashi bothering him." She replied, still smiling. "It means that he forfeits the matches though, being in the dance is a mandatory requirement." She found it slightly harder to lie; she still had the uncomfortable feeling of that boy's eyes boring into her back from across the room.

"Liar." Sasuke said from behind the two of them. "He worked hard like the rest of us to get here, why would he quit now?" She spun towards him again.

"Who asked you, anyways? I don't know the guy, and I don't know why he did what he did. Could you but out?" She yelled, brewing over with anger. She could feel the confident apathy oozing off of the boy, and there was nothing that made her feel worse. He didn't even care what happened to the sound ninja, she could tell, he was merely saying what he was saying to annoy her.

"It's just disgusting the way you spew things out of your mouth. If you're going to lie, at least lie a little better, don't insult his intelligence." Sasuke spat back, smirking. Ryu glared at him, but decided to change to subject and simply ignore the annoying jerk.

"Who's that boy over there, with the red hair, blue eyes…the gourd?" She asked Naruto, pointing at him.

"That's Gaara." Naruto said simply. She sighed, that wasn't exactly what she was hoping for.

"He's from the village of sand…so I'm assuming that there's sand in the gourd?" She pressed, hoping for a little more information on his attacks. She had a sinking feeling she would be fighting him later.

"Yea. He uses it to attack people, he barely ever moves when he's fighting unless you knock him back. That's usually impossible anyways; the sand protects him from attacks. And even if you do get past it! The creepy bastard has a layer of sand on his body that protects him anyways!" Naruto ranted, not looking the kid in the eye. Ryu took mental note of what Naruto said; it would probably be useful later. "Is there any reason he's glaring at you?" Naruto asked curiously. "I don't think I've ever seen the guy so angry, did you stab him or something?" Ryu focused in on the boy, and realized that he was staring at her, and just her, with intent to kill. She sighed; it was going to be a long night. "Ryu?" Naruto pressed, and she realized that she had been thinking too much and ignored his question.

"Who knows? I guess it doesn't matter, anyways." She said, not wanting to have a huge discussion about the possible death threat. She didn't want other people involved, it would be on her if this kid decided to help her out and that creepy sand boy killed him.

"Alright guys, everyone out! The dance is over." Kakashi said with a smile on his face. "I'm sure you're all bummed to leave." He commented sarcastically, knowing what torture it had been for most of the ninjas, who couldn't dance anyways. She glanced over at Naruto, and realized that he actually did look upset at the prospect of leaving. _Maybe I lead him on a little_, she realized, frowning. _Ah well, I hope he doesn't take things too seriously, I didn't do anything more than talk to him…and dance with him. But other than that…_her thoughts continued, and she started to feel worse and worse. She did want to be friends with him, maybe that's all that she had conveyed. She could hope.

"Naruto!" She shouted over at him as she was walking out. "I'll see you tomorrow maybe?" She asked, a thought occurring to her that maybe they could train together…not that she needed it. He seemed to brighten up a little.

"Sure! Where are you staying?" He shouted back. The black-haired boy was standing there with Naruto. She assumed they must be on the same team. She described the Inn across town, and his eyes light up. She wondered quietly what he was thinking.

"We'll walk you home if you'd like!" He informed her, pointing to Sasuke and himself. Sasuke groaned. "It seems a little late to be walking that far on your own." He added, hopeful.

"Yea, it's dangerous I mean, it's not like you're a ninja or something." Sasuke commented sarcastically.

"Sasuke!" Naruto exclaimed. "I…I didn't mean you weren't strong." Naruto added in an apologetic tone. Ryu wasn't even paying attention; her eyes were on the redhead, Gaara. None of the sand ninja had made an effort to leave the dance hall. They were waiting for her.

"Huh? Oh sure." She replied, not sure what had been said to her. Naruto grinned.

"You'll let us walk you home then?" Naruto exclaimed, more of a statement than a question. She sighed; she really didn't want to get anyone else involved.

"Hai." She replied, still watching Gaara. Then suddenly she spun around and smiled at Naruto and even Sasuke. "Shall we?" Naruto nodded and they walked out of the dance hall together, Sasuke following behind them with an annoyed look on his face. Ryu waved to Kakashi before leaving, and he waved back.

"Wow, you know Kakashi?" Naruto asked in awe. Ryu smiled and turned back to him. She felt a mother dealing with an excited child. She glanced back at Sasuke, _I even have the disgruntled good-for-nothing husband, _she thought.

"Yea, we've done a few missions together." Ryu said calmly. Naruto grinned at her, and Sasuke seemed to be paying a little more attention than usual, at least.

A few minutes passed, and they were about halfway to her house. Nothing had happened yet, to her surprise, it seemed as long as she was with Naruto and Sasuke, the sand ninja merely followed, never showing themselves. She sighed, thinking that it was going to happen eventually, and she didn't want to mess up her room again, so she didn't want to wait until the end. Taking a deep breath, she said the first thing that came to mind.

"You don't have to walk me any further. I'm going to stay here for a bit…I have a date with destiny, you could say." Ryu told them, smiling. Naruto frowned and seemed to want to stay, stubbornly, but he was forced to go as Sasuke was already walking away from them.

"Are you sure?" He asked, walking towards Sasuke but looking back at her.

"Hai." She replied, giving him an assuring look. "I'll see you tomorrow morning!" She added, smiling. He nodded and turned his head away slowly, then ran to catch up with Sasuke.


	2. The Fight

2(The Fight)

A few minutes passed as she stood there in silence, the wind blowing through her silver hair. She guessed that they were waiting to make sure Naruto and Sasuke were well out of the way before revealing themselves. _That makes enough sense, _she thought, _after all; they know that I'm waiting for them, so they can take as long as they want. _ She glanced up at the night sky, watching the stars for a moment. She'd forgotten how nice the village could be in the nighttime, she was usually so far from the place she called home when night fell. She took one of her long pigtails in her hand, wondering if they were going to be a disadvantage in battle. She'd always heard long hair was, but where she was born and raised no self respecting girl would ever cut her hair, so she decided that she'd deal with the handicap. Ever since she'd arrived in this place as a child, she'd never really understood what they meant by 'ninja', and 'shinobi'. Where she was born ninja were always in black, disguised, and usually only hired to kill. Everyone, except a few of them, seemed so lighthearted here.

Three figures stepped out of the shadows, and began to approach her. She could make out the blond girl, the redheaded boy, and the tallest boy, dressed almost completely in black. She sighed, and took a loose battle stance, wondering what this fight would be like. She hoped they would come at her one at a time, like the ninja of this land seemed to, she could handle them easily one at a time. The redhead was in the middle, though he seemed to be the shortest and youngest of the group, so she assumed he was the strongest and addressed him.

"Wow, what a coincidence to see you three here." She stated coldly, keeping her eyes on Gaara. She began to feel the pain and sorrow ring throughout her body again, but ignored it. She wondered if the kid always felt this way, or if he was just having an extremely bad night.

"I'm sorry, you're a cutie, but you know too much." The tall boy in black said, "Gaara's going to have to kill you." Ryu looked the redhead up and down, and still could not understand why he was the leader. For a moment she thought that the tall boy in black would have a better shot at killing her, but her instincts told her that assumption was wrong. There was something about the younger boy that just wasn't right. Sand began to pour out of the gourd on the small boys back, and lay in a pile on the ground. Ryu remained completely calm, she knew from Naruto that the boy could control sand, and so she would soon have to dodge the attacks. At that moment, another idea came into her head. She could keep dodging the sand, or she could cut it off at the source. If she could use her sleep jutsu on the boy, the sand may still protect him but it wouldn't attack her. She began to perform the seals, but again her instincts told her to stop, and she did. She got a sick feeling from the boy when he recognized the seals, like something inside him got some twisted joy from it. _Ok, I don't want him unconscious, but I don't want him to be able to attack, and as long as he's conscious he can attack. _She frowned, this wasn't making any sense. The sand came at her, and she dodged it halfheartedly, still thinking. _ Maybe, maybe I do want him unconscious, just, I don't want whatever smiles when I put him unconscious to come out. _ He seemed pretty cocky, so she decided to press him for some information.

"Kid." She said, batting the sand back some more. "I don't want to put you unconscious, but the question is why?" She asked, dodging the sand again and landing only a few feet away from him.

"Because then you'll meet the real monster, the monster inside me." Gaara stated coldly. Ryu stopped short, unable to bring herself to move, and looked down at herself. It clicked, he was like her. A thought occurred to her, and she smiled. She put her hands together and began to perform a very complex seal. Gaara's expression was complete confusion. He had thought she was scared when she stopped dodging the attacks, but she was smiling, even with the sand wrapping around her. Ryu felt the sand, and knew she had to work fast; it was already up to her waist. "What are you doing?" He asked, his face contorting into anger coupled with confusion.

"Sealing Jutsu!" She called out, and Gaara was knocked back a few feet. She used the pause in combat to do the seals for a sleep jutsu. Gaara stood up, and was knocked back by the next jutsu, asleep. "Take him home, and let him sleep it off. He'll wake up in the morning." She instructed the other two sand ninja. They didn't seem to have any interest in continuing the fight; she guessed they were in shock at the state of their teammate.

"Hai." The blond girl said, picking up her fellow comrade.

Ryu headed home, wondering quietly how many others had a demon sealed inside them. She had always made the assumption that she was the only one, but this had proved her wrong. She laughed to herself, knowing that with the new seal the boy would be unable to access the demon's power until someone unsealed it for him. After about a half an hour of walking, she was home. She sighed and jumped up from the ground to the room she was staying in, breaking into the room through her window and plopping down onto her bed. She was exhausted and had wasted a lot of chakra, so she fell right to sleep.

The next morning her eyes flickered open and she sat up to find a pair of icy-blue spheres glaring back at her. "Ack!" she yelled, losing her balance in the confusion and falling off her bed. Gaara watched her stand up, brush herself off, and rub her eyes. "Ack!" she said again, realizing there actually was someone in her bed.

"Some ninja you are!" Gaara spat, "I could have killed you easily if I didn't need you to fix me!"

"Fix you?" She was still groggy and dazed; she wasn't sure what the boy wanted from her. Gaara's eyes narrowed.

"You don't remember?" He yelled, pulling out a kunai. "Whatever the hell jutsu you did, undo it." Ryu snapped to attention when she saw the kunai.

"It was a simple seal, you undo it." She replied, pulling out a kunai herself.

"Simple?" he retorted, fuming with anger. "A demon seal is one of the most complex seals you can do!"

"Oh," She said simply, "too bad for you then, I guess." Gaara glared at her.

"I'm not leaving you alone until you fix me." He threatened, still sitting on her bed.

"Alright then, what do you like on your pancakes?" She asked him, her tone changing completely from apathy to happiness. "Naruto and Sasuke are probably on their way, so I'm treating them to breakfast…"

"Pancakes." Gaara stated, staring her down.

"No, elephants." She answered sarcastically. "Yes, pancakes." She repeated.

"No thank you." He spat bitterly. She frowned, but then walked into the kitchen anyways. About fifteen minutes later she returned with stacks of steaming hot breakfast to find Gaara the only one in the living area, still sitting in silence on her bed.

"Crap." She informed him, frowning. "I would have thought Naruto would wake up early to come say hello. Sasuke must have held him up." She sighed. "I guess I'll put theirs on the windowsill and hope the sun keeps their food warm until they get here." She got two plates and loaded them with food. "Here ya go." She smiled and handed him a plate.

"Are you deaf?" He glared at her, putting the plate of pancakes on the ground.

"God, what an ungrateful little snot you are. I don't care if you hate me, I don't care if you want to kill me. As long as you're here I'm going to look after you, so suck it up and eat the goddamn fucking pancakes!" She yelled, picking up the plate and shoving it back into his lap.

"Why…?" He asked, in almost a whisper.

"Why what?" She looked at him, confused.

"Why do you have to look after me just because I'm here…?" He pressed, his voice still very quiet, his face twisted in confusion. She smiled.

"It's just who I am. Helping people is what I do, sort of like my purpose in life. I don't know if you could understand…" Her eyes widened in surprise as he poked a pancake.

"And you think…what I need…is pancakes?" He questioned.

"Right now? Couldn't hurt." She said, picking up her plate. "So chow down." He picked up a pancake and took a bite, chewing it slowly. She wondered how what she had said had changed his mind.

"You'll understand then, why I need my abilities back." He said carefully, putting his plate down. "My purpose…is killing. You took away my ability to serve my purpose." Gaara explained, and then looked up at her.

"Who told you your purpose was killing?" She asked curiously

"I decided it for myself." He replied plainly. She frowned.

"I think you have a higher purpose in life than killing…but I don't know what I would do if I felt like I couldn't help people so, I'll unseal your powers for you." She consented, still frowning. "It'll take a few days, but I'll do it." His eyes flashed instantly back to anger.

"It took you seconds to seal my power, but it will take days to unseal it?" He spat angrily.

"It's not that…I burned out my chakra last night. It'll take a while before it returns." She explained, sighing. "I wasn't really expecting you to be so much of a threat, to be honest. I had thought the sound ninja was my main opponent, so I used most of my chakra on him. But then to have to seal your powers as well, I'm tapped." The door burst open, and Naruto came running in.

"Sorry we're late, Sasuke was being—" He stopped mid-sentence and froze in his tracks when he saw Gaara in the room. Sasuke came strolling in, and then froze as well. Both of their eyes flickered back and forth between Ryu and Gaara.

"So…when you said 'a date with destiny' you meant…" Sasuke tried to do one of his sarcastic comments, but in his current state he couldn't even finish the sentence.

"Uhh…pancakes?" She suggested, pointing to the windowsill. Naruto thought for a moment, and then grinned.

"For us?" He asked, and then ran to the plate to grab some. She smiled, but then realized that Sasuke still hadn't budged. Remembering the night before, she smirked.

"Can I help you?" She asked sarcastically, and he snapped out of it, giving her a glare. He took a seat, and then stared out the window as if he didn't want to be in her room but some mystical force was keeping him there. She glared at him and thought _If you don't want to be here, why did you come? Go home! _ But she assumed he must be on Naruto's team, and so was obliged to be with Naruto sometimes. Naruto was sitting down in another chair eating his pancakes, saving his questions about Gaara until after he was done eating. She grinned, knowing she had dodged a bullet. She turned to Gaara, and wondered if waiting for her chakra to return was the only thing keeping him here.

"My chakra won't be back in anything strong enough to do what you want by the end of today. There isn't even a shot until tomorrow, and even then…" Ryu said, watching to see his reaction. Gaara stood up, picked up his gourd and swung it around his back, and was gone in a gust of sand. She sighed, she should have guessed, it was purely a business transaction. She wondered if she would ever be able to help him to any degree greater than pancakes.

"What was that all about?" Naruto finally asked, and Sasuke turned his head to look at her, finding this particular subject worth his bother.

"Oh, nothing, he just wanted me to do a jutsu for him. There are very few people who can, I guess, at least in our rank." She smiled, wondering if she should tell them what happened in full. She thought about Gaara, and decided he probably wouldn't want anyone to know he was in a weakened state, though she wasn't sure how weakened he was, she assumed he must have had other ninja training.

"Wow, what jutsu?" Naruto asked, the excitement infecting her. She smiled wider, wondering how this kid could be so happy all the time. She though back to when she was alone in her room with Gaara, the chills from that kid were overwhelming, though she had tried not to show it.

"Uhh…it's not important really. We should go and do something today, a sort of celebration before training tomorrow." She suggested, trying to change the subject. It worked, Sasuke saved the day with his sarcastic apathy.

"Or we could train today, like all the other contestants. Sitting here is a waste of time. Anything but training is a waste of time." He spat, and turned to look out the window again.

"Gee Sasuke, who'd have thought Gaara was more social then you are. But oh, what does that say about you?" the words shot out of her mouth like venom. She couldn't help it, being an empath she felt exactly the way he did.

"Hn." Sasuke glared off into the distance. "Fine then, Miss Ryu, what would you like to do today?" He asked in a sappy sweet voice. She jumped at the opportunity to make the aggravating boy suffer.

"Well, since you asked…I think we should start off by going to the beach, after a few hours we'll head out for lunch, and then go to the park until the evening-time, and of course we'll have dinner and watch the sun set, Sasuke." She replied, smirking. Sasuke's eyes narrowed and he looked the other way.

"Damnit, where's Kakashi when you need him." Sasuke stared down the corner.

"Kakashi? I could always talk to him, get you a few days off training, bet you'd _love _that." She threatened. Sasuke's glare couldn't get any angrier, so he balled his hands into fists to create the same effect.

"That sounds great!" Naruto told her, grinning. "It's sunny out, perfect for the park and the beach!" he added. She nodded and stood up to go get changed out of her ninja clothes and into something more summer appropriate. She wondered where Gaara had gone, she guessed he must be away training but she couldn't be sure. She wondered if she shouldn't have told him that her powers weren't going to return today, maybe he would have gone with them on their day out, _he looks like he needs a good time with friends_, she thought. _Oh well_, she sighed, _no use worrying about it now. _ Putting her bathing suit on under, she found some cute shorts and a nice spaghetti strap shirt and sandals and came back out to the living area of her apartment.

"Did you two happen to bring your bathing suits?" She asked, knowing it was a stupid question. Of course they hadn't, she had only just made plans for the beach. "How about this…you guys can go back to your rooms and get changed and then meet me at the beach, alright?" Naruto nodded and Sasuke un-balled his fists. The two of them turned and walked out, Naruto turning back to wave goodbye before heading home. She got the sudden feeling that she was being watched, but chose to ignore it. It was going to be too much of a perfect day for her to have any trouble. Ryu got an idea, and smiled. She could pack a lunch for the three of them, as she didn't have enough money to take them out twice in one day. Running into the kitchen, she whipped up some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and threw them into a bag.


	3. Sunny Days

3(Sunny Days)

Aara ran up the path to the beach, knowing that stopping to pack lunch had probably made her late. When she finally got there it was easy to spot the two of them, Sasuke was off in a corner as far away from everyone as possible, and Naruto was in the shallow water directly in front of Sasuke, splashing around and enjoying himself. She ran to the two of them and set down their lunches on the blanket she brought.

"Hey!" She shouted, grabbing Naruto's attention. He turned and grinned, and waved his hand for her to come over into the water. She nodded to him. "I'll be there in a second!" She assured him. She turned to Sasuke to tell him not to let anything happen to their lunches and then froze. He was shirtless, basking in the sun with only his swimming trunks on. She shook her head and sighed, wondering why such a cute body had to go to waste on an asshole like him.

"Can I help you?" He looked up at her and smirked, knowing where her eyes were. She nodded and shoved the bag of food into his hands.

"Make sure nothing happens to that, it's our lunch." She informed him, and then started to strip down into her bikini. She knew Sasuke was watching, though she wouldn't turn to face him, and smiled inwardly. She could be cute, too, if she wanted to be. Kicking off her sandals, she joined Naruto in the water. He was right, it was beautiful out. She felt a little bad that she had only planned the day with Naruto to spite Sasuke, Naruto was really a good friend and he seemed to put up with a lot and still have a smile on his face.

"Sasuke's glaring at you." Naruto commented. She laughed.

"Oh well. He can sulk over there, and we'll have fun over here." She replied, and then splashed him. He laughed and splashed her back. The ran around in the water, splashing each other and laughing, occasionally talking. After an hour or so of fun in the sun she turned to Naruto and exclaimed "Lunch!" They raced each other to the blanket, and then got the sand off their feet before settling down. "Lunch." She informed Sasuke once more, putting a sandwich on his stomach. He made no effort to eat. She watched him for a while, and then lost it. "God, what is it with you loner-types and food? You obviously didn't eat breakfast, I was there. You must be starving, so swallow your pride and eat!" Sasuke made a 'tch' noise and picked up the sandwich and took a large bite.

"Happy now?" He asked, putting it back down. She sighed.

"Yea, I guess." She turned to Naruto to make sure he wasn't doing the same thing and found that he had finished his and was reaching for Sasuke's.

"Gee, Sasuke, I don't know how you can't want this, it's amazing, and you're starving! But if your not going to eat it…" Naruto asked for the sandwich in a round-about way. Sasuke picked up the sandwich and ate the rest before Naruto could grab it. She laughed, _I guess it wasn't half bad._ Contrary to her complex plan, they stayed at the beach the rest of the day. When the sun started to set, she and Naruto watched it from the blanket, with Sasuke sitting a few feet behind them. After the sun had set, they became aware that there was someone standing behind them, and turned around to find Kakashi there. Ryu turned and smiled at Kakashi.

"Naruto." Kakashi said.

"Hai?" Naruto asked.

"Can you come with me? I need to talk to you." He explained.

"Hai!" He exclaimed, and then ran after Kakashi, who was walking away. "Sasuke! Walk Ryu home, ok?" He added, and then disappeared.

"No way!" Sasuke argued, but it was no use, Naruto was already gone. Sasuke turned to Ryu with such fury that she thought he was going to pop. She smirked.

"I guess you're stuck, then." She laughed, and turned towards home. Sasuke turned and began to walk in the other direction.

"Tell Naruto I walked you home." He told her, still walking away.

"Sounds good to me." She spat back, walking faster to get farther away from him. She was so angry, _I can't believe that guy, _she thought. Not paying attention she tripped and fell. "Aaaaugh!" she yelled, falling further down the hill. She couldn't believe the kid had distracted her that much. Hitting the bottom of the hill she tried to stand up, and found she couldn't. _My ankle,_ she thought, rubbing it with her hand. She looked up to find Sasuke standing in front of her.

"Some ninja you are." He spat, and then started to pick her up. She swatted his hands away.

"Go home!" She yelled at him. "I didn't want you here before, why would I want you here now?" She exclaimed, grabbing a nearby tree and pulling herself up.

"Shut up, you can't even walk." He retorted, grabbing her and pulling her up to his side. She scowled at him, and then looked the other way. He helped her walk and they continued to her house in silence. When they arrived at her door he said "You could say thanks you know. With no chakra and a sprained ankle, you were screwed back there." He smirked.

"Leave me alone." She replied coldly.

"As you wish." He informed her, and then let go. She dropped to the floor.

"You…you asshole!" She yelled, pulling herself to her feet and slapping him. He caught her hand and shoved her up against the wall.

"You're good, but with no chakra and a hurt ankle, you're not that good." He breathed, holding her there for a moment.

"You're gunna pay for that." She whispered. They were inches apart, the tension running high. His eyes flickered to her lips, breathing heavily. Realizing what was running through his head he quickly released her, turning and walking away. She fell to the ground once more, breathing heavily herself. She wondered what had made him let her go, but she decided it wasn't worth thinking about. She pulled herself up one more time, and found to her surprise that she could walk as long as she was careful not to put too much pressure on her injured ankle. She smiled, _thank god for my fast healing, I should be better by tomorrow_, she thought. As she lay down in her bed she again got the feeling that she was being watched. She sighed, pulling the blankets over her and falling asleep.

She woke up the next morning to the same icy-blue eyes as the day before. Somehow she found it comforting to know that he was there. "Morning Gaara!" she chirped, letting more of her happiness show then she had intended. His face twisted in confusion, and he said simply:

"Chakra." For a moment she was confused as well, but then after a moment she replied.

"Not enough yet…" She said, frowning.

"When." He stated, still staring her down.

"I'm not sure." She admitted, "I didn't realize I had so much chakra to waste. "Probably not today, maybe tonight?" She suggested, unsure. He jumped off her bed and opened the window to leave.

"Do you have to go?" She blurted out. He turned his head to look at her. "I mean…where do you go?...I mean…am I really that awful?" She asked. Gaara remained silent, making no effort to leave or stay. She thought for a moment, and then smiled. "I enjoy your company." His face twisted into an unreadable expression. "I…I need to go change, I'll be right back though." She told him, going and getting clothes. When she came back, the window was open and he was gone. She sighed.

She wondered what Kakashi had said to Naruto. She wasn't if she could really consider him 'late' today, because they hadn't exactly made any plans. _I'll track down Kakashi, _she thought, _he ought to know what he said to Naruto._ She pulled on her sandals and headed out the door. Running down the hallway to the window at the end, she saw what a nice day it was. Figuring Kakashi would be on the training grounds with Naruto's team, she headed out the window and in their direction. When she arrived, to her surprise all she saw was Kakashi and Sasuke.

"Get up Sasuke, do it again!" Kakashi yelled, his eyes on the exhausted black-haired boy. Suddenly Kakashi smiled and said "Come on Sasuke, wouldn't want to disappoint the audience!" Kakashi head turned to look at Ryu. Sasuke's head traced Kakashi's gaze until he saw her. He glared and pulled himself up. "Wow, Ryu. You should stay here the rest of the day, you seem to motivate him." He joked. She frowned and explained herself.

"I…I was looking for Naruto, sort of. I was curious what you said to him. I…I figured he'd be training with you, so here I am. She finished, her eyes asking for information. Kakashi frowned.

"He…He was lacking in the basics, so I sent him to work with someone else." Kakashi admitted, a guilty look on his face.

"Kakashi you must have broken his heart!" She protested, but she knew it was none of her business.

"While you're here, there was something I wanted to ask you." He told her.

"Hai?" She asked, wondering what he would want to know.

"I have someone I want you to train with." He explained.

"I don't need to train!" She argued. _He knows I do high class missions,_ she thought angrily, _there's no genin my level to train with! _

"Neither does she. But together you might actually improve." He pressed. Her eyes widened. _Someone else my level? _She thought. "She's a foreigner, looks a lot like you. Probably from the same place as well."

"What's her name?" Ryu asked. _I can probably figure where she's from by that most likely, _she thought.

"Koinu." He told her, confused as to why that was important.

"Southwest." She said, thinking out loud. "A little further west then I'd like, admittedly, but south enough that it's ok."

"mm?" Kakashi couldn't believe she could tell where the girl was from by her name.

"She'll have around my hair then. But I bet her eyes are west-colored." She turned to Kakashi to see if she was right.

"Yea, same hair, different eyes." He assured her, in even greater disbelief. She realized that her thought process was foreign to him, so she did her best to explain.

"We have four major lands where I'm from, north, south, east, and west. The countries are proud, and so we rarely mix culture. That mans that each country has distinct traits, everything from names, to hair and eye color, and even strengths and weaknesses. The southern land's people, like myself, have silver hair, pink or blue eyes, dress fancily, have pierced ears and medium-long hair. We pride ourselves on intelligence, magic, and civility. The western land's people have snow-white, almost bluish hair, which they never cut—" there was a bit of a disgusted tone in he voice "—usually red or gold eyes, do not pierce their ears, and dress plainly. They pride themselves on strength, viciousness, and power. Those in the north have short red hair, dress in white robes, have heavy pierces, and green or white eyes. They pride themselves on wisdom, philosophy, and peacefulness. Those in the east…" her voice drifted away.

"Those in the east?" came Sasuke's voice from a few feet away. _He's paying attention_, she thought. It gave her courage to continue.

"Those in the east have uhm…they have black hair, and uhm, black or brown eyes." She gulped and continued. "They have sharp claws, dress in armor, and pride themselves on…on…on their cunningness, their ability to conquer and, and to kill…There…there are rarities among our traits…" her voice began to gain strength "…there are some people in my lands in the south who with purple eyes, but that's only among the royal family, so its considered a rare sign of beauty. In the north a very select few have blond hair, they consider it a sign from the gods, a blessing. In the east…" her voice lost strength again. "….a rare few have red eyes like those in the west, these people are trained too…to bleach their hair, change their names, and infiltrate other lands. The royalty in the western lands have markings on their face and arms. The reason I knew where she was from is that names from the western lands refer to animals, and the most common is dogs. But, the south has the tradition of the beginning, "ko". She finished her speech and turned to them. "Make sense?" Kakashi nodded. "Her hair is a silvery white then, and her eyes are?"

"Red." He answered. From a few feet away Sasuke was giving her a strange look.

"Your eyes." Sasuke said simply, pointing.

"Huh?" She asked, her finger moving instinctively to her upper cheek beneath her eye.

"You have purple eyes." He explained. She quickly looked away.

"S…so?" She stammered, still looking away.

"You said only southern royalty had purple eyes." Sasuke stated, stepping forward. "That makes you royalty."

"Kakashi, where's the girl?" Ryu said, ignoring Sasuke.

"She's with the Hokage right now, waiting." Kakashi answered. "Ryu—" she ran off towards the building where Hokage worked. Sasuke gave Kakashi a confused look and Kakashi shrugged.

Ryu stood outside the door to the Hokage's room for a while, thinking. She hoped Sasuke would drop the subject of her eyes, if they ever even talked again, that was. She was unsure of how to react to the girl she would see inside. Koinu was a mix, something that her culture was very against. Ryu shook her head, clearing her mind of thoughts like that. It was her culture that made Ryu run away in the first place. She wouldn't judge this girl, and hoped the girl wouldn't judge her in return. She couldn't imagine what the girl must have gone through growing up. She wondered when the girl left her country, and if that was why she left. Taking a deep breath, she stepped through the doorway. There were a few Chuunin and Jounin crowding around the Hokage for missions, and the girl who reminded her of home sitting cross-legged in the corner, looking angry. The girl spotted Ryu, stared at her for a second, and got even angrier. She sighed, she couldn't blame the girl, from Ryu's looks she probably assumed Ryu would hate her.

"Uhm…hello there." Ryu said awkwardly, smiling as best she could.

"…hi." The girl responded cautiously.

"I uhm…hear you're pretty strong." She pressed, trying desperately to spark a conversation. The girl shrugged. "Alright, I don't care, ok? I don't care where you're from. We're both here now, right? Obviously if I'm here, I've had some issues with our culture as well." She blurted out. She watched the girl for a reaction.

"Okay." The girl replied, glancing in Ryu's direction.

"Uhm, so, your fighting skills, they're…?"

"West." Koinu stated.

"Great!" She said, grinning widely. "It's perfect then!" Koinu was completely confused.

"Huh?" was all she managed.

"I do primarily magic—uhm, jutsu," Ryu explained. The girl laughed when she heard Ryu say 'magic'. She had always wondered if they were the same thing. "and you do fighting. I need fighting skills, and you need magical ability." She finished, looking at her.

"I don't use m—jutsu." She smirked, "unless I have to." Ryu frowned.

"Oh, well, then teach me to fight then, we'll start there." Koinu shrugged and nodded. Ryu smiled and gestured for Koinu to follow.

"Where we headed?" The girl asked, cocking a brow.

"The training grounds." She replied, and they headed in that direction. "We just need to avoid Kakashi and Sasuke." She added, frowning.

"Why?" Koinu asked plainly.

"Errr…Sasuke's a jerk?" She suggested.

"So?" Koinu replied.

"Wait, you know him?" She asked.

"Yes."

"Oh, I suppose you went to the ninja academy with them. Wait, how long have you been here?" She asked, curiously.

"A year, a year and half, two years?" The girl suggested, shrugging. "I lost track." Ryu nodded, and decided not to press the subject further.

"Oh, I only just got here about a month ago." She informed the girl, not sure whether or not the girl cared. "How about Naruto, you know him too?"

"Ugh, wish I didn't." Koinu replied, groaning. Ryu's eyes widened in surprise.

"Why's that?" she asked, confused. "He seemed nice enough to me."

"He's too nice. I don't like him." The girl informed her, though it seemed like there was more to it. Ryu frowned and thought _maybe I'm being too nice, I wonder if she hates me too. _She decided it was best to keep silent until they reached the grounds. When they got there they marched straight past Sasuke who looked up, forgot to pay attention to Kakashi, almost got stabbed, and glared at Ryu before retaliating.

"Alright so…I can't use my magic this time, I guess we should work on basics?" Ryu suggested, looking at the obstacle course in front of her. The girl nodded and began to run the course. Ryu followed behind, but soon lost track of the girl. Koinu was much faster than she was, almost frighteningly so. By the time Ryu had finished the course; Koinu had gotten bored and run it twice.

"Some ninja you are." The girl taunted, trying to figure out how this girl was supposed to match her.

"Sorry…south…" was all Ryu managed, panting from trying to keep up. "That's why I need you to instruct me…"

"Your from the south so, why do you want to learn western fighting skills?" The girl demanded, and Ryu could tell that she didn't think Aara was serious about this. The words '_some ninja you are_' rang through her head, each person that said it making her feel worse. She frowned, and then stood up straight, determined.

"I want to get better. If this is where I'm lacking, then this is where I'll train." She said simply, and then waited for a response.

"Alright. It's not going to be easy though, those in the west don't…enjoy…their training as much you people seem to." Koinu pointed out. Ryu nodded, and they began. They trained the rest of the day, running the course, practicing aim, and honing her senses. She was slightly discouraged at how bad she seemed to be at this, but Koinu seemed patient enough with her, though sometimes insulting.

Ryu dragged herself home, exhausted. She couldn't believe how fast that girl was. She looked up at the sky, and then her eyes widened as she realized how late it was. She ran up to her room and opened the door, kicking off her sandals and plunging onto her bed. She sighed, and pulled the covers up to her neck. She heard a "tch" noise coming from a chair a few feet away. She bolted upright.

"Some ninja you are." Sasuke's voice echoed through the room.

"What're you doing here?" She exclaimed.

"Kakashi sent me to check on you." He answered coolly. She frowned, she must have really upset him by running off, she was usually so calm round him, mostly because Kakashi himself as so calm.

"I'm alright." She told him. "So you can leave." There was a long pause and he spoke again.

"How…" There was hesitation. "How's your ankle?" He finished. She smiled, surprised.

"It's healed. I heal fast." She replied, smiling. He stood up to leave.

"…and your eyes?" He asked. It dawned on her. He didn't actually care if she was ok, he didn't really want to know about her ankle. He was just curious about her eyes.

"Get out." She fumed, standing up and walking up to him.

"What?" He asked, "What the hell is your problem?"

"You didn't even care about my ankle! You just knew the subject of my eyes made me uncomfortable and so you pretended to care! Get out!" She yelled, pushing him. Suddenly she was hit with several emotions in sequence. Apathy, anger, confusion, sadness, and then back to anger.

"I never said I didn't care!" He yelled back.

"But you don't care…do you?" She asked, frowning.

"No…I don't." He answered, a tint of sadness in his voice. "I'm an avenger. I only care about one thing."

"What's that?"

"Killing that man." He replied simply. She frowned more, inexperienced to their culture. She wasn't really sure what an avenger was, but it didn't sound good.

"Killing who…?" she replied, in a whisper.

"My brother…Itachi." He answered, his voice filled with hate.

"Your own brother! Why?" She exclaimed, confused.

"…" Sasuke was silent. She felt shame and sadness from him.

"Well, that's how I feel about my past." She told him. "So unless you actually care, don't ask." Sasuke nodded, and turned to leave once more. She smiled, he was beginning to act like a human being. She was going to let him go without another word, but something inside told her that was wrong. "Sasuke!" she yelled, yanking him back with her hand.

"Nani?" he replied, confused.

"Come back tomorrow night, if you're not busy." She said, smiling. He walked away. She wondered if he would. She walked over to her bed again, and stepped in a pile of sand. "Huh?" She stepped back a few feet and looked down. Gaara had come in through the window. She wondered if he heard them talking.

"Chakra." He stated plainly once more. She closed her eyes and summoned up her chakra.

"I think I have enough." She replied. He nodded and started to take his shirt off. She practically choked trying to breathe. "Uhm…what are you…?" He stopped and looked at her, confused.

"The seal, its on my back." He stated, and began taking his shirt off again. She looked away. _Damnit,_ she thought, reminded of Sasuke, _why do the cute ones have to be the ones who would never date. _ "Why are you doing that?" Gaara asked.

"Huh?"

"Looking away." He explained. She felt anger emanating from him. _He thinks I'm looking away because its disgusting,_ she thought.

"So I don't leave a puddle of drool on the floor." She joked, turning back to work with the seal.

"Huh?" He had a confused expression on his face, _guess he's not used to jokes, _she thought, and laughed a little. He pulled away, turning around and glaring at her. She frowned, _I guess I'll have to be more straightforward then, _she thought.

"You're attractive. I didn't want to gawk at you." She explained, gesturing for him to come back so she could work with the seal. She concentrated, letting the chakra flow through her fingertips. When she brushed his back with them he stiffened and pulled away, and she sighed. "Stay still." She told him. There was silence as she worked, removing each symbol of the seal. She broke the silence when she had finished.

"That was a complex seal." She commented, frowning. "And it was also not the seal I was trying to place on you. I wondered what happened…anyways, the seal is broken." She informed him. She stood up, and the pile of sand on the ground covered his skin, hardening and changing until it looked like there was no sand at all.

"Interesting." She said, smiling. His eyes were wide in the same unreadable expression. She frowned suddenly, catching his attention.

"Am I ever going to see you again?" She asked.

"The main matches." He replied, turning away.

"I see…" She said, frowning. "Because, we could spend more time together—" Gaara cut her off.

"I have no interest in that." He stated coldly. She let him go, she wasn't going to say any more. _I can't help him…_she realized, frowning. She wasn't going to think about it anymore. Plopping down on her bed, she went to sleep.


	4. Distance

4(Distance)

When Ryu woke up, no one's eyes greeted her, she was alone in her room. She sighed, and pulled herself out of bed. She knew Koinu was probably already waiting for her at the training ground. It was pouring out. _ The weather matches my mood, _she thought unhappily. _It's going to be awful training in weather like this, _she concluded. Suddenly she yelled.

"I can't believe I saved up all my chakra for that jerk!" She argued with herself. She had been humiliated in front of Koinu because she hadn't used any magic. "I'm so stupid…" She told herself. "He tried to kill me! Why should I have restored his powers!" She pulled on her sandals and ninja clothes as violently as she could. Realizing there was nothing she could do about what had happened, she would have to move on with her life. She wasn't even sure why it bothered her so much anyways, no one else seemed to like him so much.

She pulled herself together, and pulled her hair into a bun this time. She was sick of it getting in the way of her training. Running out of the door, she smiled, suddenly she was filled with hope. She wanted to train, she wanted to get better, and today was going to be a good day. She ran outside and it had already stopped raining, there was a cool breeze and a sunny greeting for her. When she arrived at the training ground Koinu was there waiting, and they got to work. She did the course again, and was a little better than the day before. Just doing a little better made her smile. As she was high in the air on one of the poles she spotted Sasuke training with Kakashi a few hundred yards away. She had completely forgotten that she had asked him to come back to her house tonight. Suddenly it struck her, she wasn't sure why she had asked.

"What're you doing??" Koinu shouted from down at the beginning of the obstacle course where she was watching. Ryu snapped to attention and finished the course, almost losing her balance a few times, but much faster then before even with her small pause, so she was happy. Koinu even seemed to be loosening up, they ate lunch together and talked about cultural things that they really couldn't express with anyone else in the village.

"I once saw someone from the west, with a nose ring!" Ryu chattered away happily, and Koinu cocked a brow.

"Your kidding." She said, but seemed interested.

"Not at all! He was standing on a box preaching cultural freedom. I don't know why he was doing it in the south, he wasn't even from there!" She laughed, and then took a bite of her food. They got back to training at by the end of the day she could even spar Koinu…as long as Koinu went easy on her. She frowned, thinking about what had happened the night before. Maybe she would go visit Gaara, someday. Regardless, it was time to go home, Gaara or no Gaara.

Ryu went back to her room and sat for a while, wondering if Sasuke would come. She felt childish, going all the way home and waiting instead of just asking him if he'd be there before she left the training ground. She tilted her head down and smelled something foul. Realizing that it was her sweaty clothes she smelled, she ran quickly into the other room to wash up and change. A half hour later she returned to the living room feeling refreshed. Her hair was light, fluffy, and styled, and she was wearing a skirt and a comfortable shirt. She was clean. She looked around, and then sighed.

"He's not here." She said to herself, frowning.

"Some ninja…you know, it's not even worth saying anymore." Sasuke was leaning up against the wall, stretched out on her bed half asleep.

"You act like you've been here for hours." She said sarcastically, and then made a worried face. "You…haven't been here for hours, have you?" She remembered the smell of her clothes and shuddered, wondering if he had been there to smell that.

"No, got here a few minutes ago." He answered plainly, looking away. She wondered why he never looked like he was paying attention if he could avoid it. "Not sure why I'm here, I was hoping you would explain." She remembered how serious she had sounded the night before. She took a minute to think about why she had asked him to stay. She couldn't just tell him 'oh, something inside me told me not to let you leave' it wouldn't make sense.

"I…I wanted to be friends!" She exclaimed cheerfully, plopping down next to him on the bed. He gave her an apathetically disinterested face, and she wondered if all the girls did that. She frowned. "You seem like you need one." She added, her tone becoming almost sad. His face was twisted in confusion.

"I don't need friends." He replied, and looked her in the eye this time. "I already told you, I don't care about anything except that man." Ryu frowned, they were hitting the conversational barrier of his brother again.

"If that's the only thing you care about, then we're going to have to talk about it sometime." She suggested, wondering if he'd explain.

"Or," he suggested sarcastically, "We could just not talk."

"Alright, I'm going to say this as best I can. You need friends, you need friends or you wouldn't let Naruto drag you around. He's your friend, whether you want to admit that you like it or not, and you put up with a lot to stay with him. I don't know how you got so arrogant and apathetic, because you won't tell me, but I know that in the end, all your pretend apathy gets you nowhere, because you do care, whether you wish you didn't or not. I don't want to be anything more than Naruto is to you, so can you put up with that?" She finished her speech, and turned to him. He wasn't looking away, but directly at her, eyes widened.

"He told you about the time I saved his life, didn't he." Sasuke said angrily, not wanting this girl to think he was capable of that.

"You did what?" She asked, confused. "Naruto didn't tell me anything…everything I say is based on what I see, here and now." She informed him, wondering what he had done to save Naruto's life.

"Nothing, nevermind." He said quickly, not wanting to think about it. He was never really sure why he had done what he did. His one goal in life had been to kill Itachi, and yet he had thrown it all away for the useless git he hates to call a teammate.

"How did you save him?" She asked, wondering what was going through his head. Sasuke remained silent. "Sasuke?" She pressed, and he merely stood up to leave. She frowned, and rose beside him. "What the hell is your problem, anyways?" She demanded, pushing him back down. "You can't even stand to have a friend?" She yelled. He got straight back up.

"I'm an avenger. My only purpose in life is too—" She cut him off, she didn't want to hear it.

"I don't care! I don't understand, and I don't care. You want to kill your brother, you can go ahead and do that. But I don't understand why you can't have friends, too. You'd think it would help, having help to kill him. You consider only your own strength, but building allies is a strength in and of itself. What are your plans, anyways? What if you kill him, what then?" She yelled.

"I rebuild my clan." Sasuke stated. "Itachi…he slaughtered my clan, killed my parents, and everyone else. I was a small child but still, I was too weak to do anything about it…I have to avenge them now, I have to kill him, and restore our clan if I can do so. But I don't need anyone's help. I want to be strong, I want to do it on my own." Her eyes widened, that was the most Sasuke had ever said to her. She had the urge to hug him and tell him everything would be alright, but she suppressed it.

"But…if you were a little kid, how was that your fault?" She asked, not understanding his train of thought. "If everyone else in the village couldn't win against him, then why would it have been your responsibility to succeed where no one else could?" She sat back down on her bed, without forcing him down as well. She had never thought that this land would be so much like hers, that everyone would have so many problems. This was her escape, her resting place. There were supposed to be hopes and dreams here.

"I've always known, if I had been strong back then, if I could have helped, things might have been different." His voice was filled with anger. "Why do you care, anyways?" He asked. She was beginning to see parallels between Sasuke and Gaara. She wondered if every Genin was like this.

"Does it matter to you why I care? The fact is, I do care. I haven't been in this land long, but I've been here long enough to know that going it alone isn't a good idea. Do you think having no one to lean on makes you strong? Well it doesn't. Real strong people are people like Naruto, people with connections, people with friends. If he falls down, he has people to put him back on his feet again. You're alone." There was a long pause, and then Sasuke made a "tch" noise.

"Whatever." He remarked. She supposed it was the closest thing she would ever get to acceptance, so she took it as Sasuke language for 'lets be friends!'. And so slowly, they began to talk. Sasuke was almost impossible to keep a conversation with at first, he just kept staring out the window and using as many one word answers as he could; but as the night progressed she gradually found subjects he was interested in, and he started to talk more. She and Naruto had talked about the other chuunin exam participant's abilities at the beach, so she told him what he might be up against. She learned that he had been hospitalized after his match in the preliminaries, and he had snuck out to train with Kakashi as soon as he was able. "…then they forced me to that lame dance even though I was still technically in need of a hospital, and then you." He complained, taking a drink. She found to her dislike that 'talking' with Sasuke seemed to be just streams of sarcastic comments and complaints. But, she supposed she would have to put up with it for a while if she ever wanted to be real friends with him.

"What about me?" She asked, frowning.

"You pissed me off, what else?" Sasuke commented, "And Naruto just about wanted to marry you that's all I heard all the walk home is 'oh she knows Kakashi' and 'oh she thinks I could be Hokage'. It was awful." She didn't think Sasuke would stop the sarcastic comments unless she drove the conversation in a more serious direction. The perfect idea came to mind.

"What're your plans?" She asked.

"Plans?" He repeated her word, confused.

"For killing Itachi. How are you going to get stronger?" She waited for his response, wanting to see if she could psycho-analyze him from there.

"Beat all the strong people I can, and train as much as possible." He informed her.

"So that's why you called the beach a waste of time then?" She asked.

"Exactly. I don't ever want to stop until I kill Itachi…your day was an inconvenience." She frowned.

"You didn't enjoy yourself at all?" She asked, suddenly feeling unhappy.

"…it was funny watching you trip." He suggested, and she scowled. Suddenly a thought occurred to her. She remembered how he had run off that night.

"Why did you run away?" She asked, glancing out the window. It was extremely late.

"Run away?" He asked, unsure of what she meant.

"That night." She clarified. "You had me up against the wall, and then you just ran." Sasuke was silent. After a few moments she spoke again. "Sasuke?" She pressed.

"You were a distraction from my objective." Sasuke stated simply, with no intention to explain what he meant. She had no idea what he was talking about. She turned to face him on the bed and asked

"Am I still a distraction?" He wouldn't even turn to look at her.

"You said friends were a sign of true strength…" he reminded her. She smiled.

"We're friends then?" She asked. His eyes widened. "You didn't even realize you said it that way, did you?" He frowned. "See! I made some progress, then." She said, still grinning. She had forgotten about the information she was pressing him for, and had begun to talk about random things. "Training with Koinu has been so hard…but I think I've gotten a lot better." Sasuke smirked. He turned to look at her, recalling how she hadn't noticed him being on her bed at the beginning of the night. "It's getting late." She commented, frowning. "Of course you're welcome to stay as late as—" Sasuke pulled himself up.

"I'll see you tomorrow." He said dismissively, walking towards the door. He froze. "Why did I say that?" He said, more to himself than anyone else. Ryu grinned widely.

"Alright." She said, standing up and walking over to him.

"I didn't mean it that way." But she wasn't sure who he was trying to convince. She again felt the urge to hug him, but decided not to push her luck.

"Sure." She assured him, laughing. "See you tomorrow." She added. He left quickly, shutting the door behind him. She plopped down onto her bed, wondering if friends was really all she wanted to be with Sasuke. She thought about it, _he's nice enough_, she told herself, _except that he's not nice at all._ She laughed. _Nicer than Gaara, at least. _The more she thought about it, the more she found herself comparing him to Gaara. She sighed, the more she thought about Gaara the angrier she became. Dismissing the subject for now, she rolled over and got some sleep.


	5. Days Off

5(Days Off)

Ryu woke up with more people in her room than she had ever imagined. Her tired eyes found Naruto sitting at the foot of her bed, Koinu glaring from across the room, and Sasuke sitting in the corner looking out the window. She sat up, and rubbed her eyes to confirm what she saw. "Huh?" Was all she could manage. Naruto was spoke first.

"I came to the grounds to train by myself today because my sensei was…busy, and I saw Sasuke and Koinu there standing around doing nothing." He started.

"You were late." Koinu finished, pointing an accusing finger at Ryu.

"Wha…What time is it?" Ryu asked groggily.

"Noon!" Koinu said angrily, "I'd been waiting for you since eight this morning!"

"Oh no!" She exclaimed. She guessed it must have been a real late night with

Sasuke if she had slept in that late. "I'm sorry…" She apologized, and then looked up. "And Sasuke?" She asked.

"Kakashi didn't show today." Sasuke said bitterly. Her heart sank, she knew h would rather be training with Kakashi than spending the day with her.

"And so you all came here?" Sasuke nodded without looking at her.

"I had to come get you." Koinu stated, clearly still angry.

"I hadn't visited in a while, and everyone else was headed this way." Naruto added. She smiled, she was surrounded by friends.

"So what's the plan for today?" She asked. "I think the park is feeling awfully ignored." She joked.

"**We **can still train." Koinu argued.

"Yea, but Naruto and Sasuke have no trainers, and we can't train with them." Ryu pressed.

"Too bad for them?" Koinu suggested, but she knew Ryu wasn't going to train today. Koinu sighed.

"There's no harm in taking a day off." Ryu assured her, and Koinu nodded in defeat Naruto seemed to enjoy the idea, and she knew Sasuke would hate the idea of anything but training anyway, so she took it as a win. "Alright, to the park then!" She exclaimed cheerfully. She jumped up, and then looked down. She had worn her clothes from the night before to sleep. Deciding it wasn't worth changing, she headed out the door with her friends. "So, who've you been training with?" She asked Naruto conversationally.

"Toad Sage." He replied. "He's great, but he's a complete pervert." He added, frowning. "What about you?"

"Koinu. She's been improving my basics. For all of my skills in uhm…jutsu, I'm slow and not very strong."

"Koinu?" He looked back at her, she was standing next to Sasuke, he was looking off in one direction, and she was looking off in the other. "She didn't seem very good at the academy, and barely passed the preliminarires…and she's training you?" He asked, confused. Koinu made a 'tch' noise from behind them. Ryu laughed.

"She's actually amazing. I must imagine she wasn't trying very hard." She assured him, thinking about what would drive the point home best. The perfect words came to mind. "She just about matches Kakashi in speed, and considering his speed that's quite a feat for a genin." Naruto's eyes widened in awe.

"Really?" He asked, looking back at Koinu with newfound respect in his eyes.

"Yep!" She replied cheerfully.

After a while they had reached the park, and had settled down into the comfortable routine of Ryu and Naruto holding a conversation and Koinu and Sasuke interjecting sarcastically when they could. Ryu found a nice spot in the park and motioned for everyone to join her on the grass. Naruto plopped down next to her, and Sasuke sat a few feet away. Koinu managed to sit a few feet from both Sasuke and Naruto, and Ryu laughed. _She's competing with Sasuke for being anti-social, _she thought. Suddenly she realized she was being stared at by two strange girls from across the park. "Who are they?" She whispered, making an inconspicuous gesture in the direction of the strangers.

"Who?" Naruto said densely. Sasuke sighed.

"Sakura and Ino." He informed her.

"Sakura was on Naruto and Sasuke's team, but she didn't pass the preliminaries. Ino—"

"Oh! They're friends of yours! Hey!" She called to them, and the girls adopted a surprised look before heading over.

"Don't call them—ugh." Sasuke turned his head away.

"You aren't friends with them?" She asked, confused.

"Yea we are!" Naruto assured her. "Sasuke is just emo." He explained. Ryu burst out laughing. _Oh, so true, _she thought. Sasuke shot her a nasty look, and she laughed harder. Even Koinu was laughing. The girls stood there a moment before asking what was going on.

"What are you laughing at?" The pink-haired girl asked.

"Sasuke." Ryu managed between laughing fits. Sasuke made a 'tch' noise.

"Don't laugh at him!" The pink-haired girl exclaimed angrily. Ryu stopped laughing.

"Why not?" She argued back. "Everyone deserves to be laughed at at some point in their lives, besides, we were just poking fun—"

"Don't laugh at him." The girl repeated, interrupting her. Ryu's eyes narrowed.

"Jeez Sasuke, what an annoying girlfriend you have." Ryu teased, making the assumption that they were dating.

"Not my girlfriend." Sasuke answered simply. "I'm too emo for that." He added bitterly. She guessed she must have really struck a nerve.

"Sorry." She said, "You usually don't care what people say." He made another 'tch' noise and turned away.

"Who are you?" The blond girl asked.

"Me?" Ryu clarified.

"No, that tree over there!" The pink-haired girl retorted.

"_Sera no calente la." _ (what an annoying bitch) Ryu muttered under her breath in her native tongue.

"_cali marute ne_" (she's not that bad) Koinu responded quietly, and Ryu sighed. Nobody seemed to hear them talk.

"Alright." She answered Koinu, and then turned back to the blond girl. "I'm Ryu. I'm new here. I'm sorry if I don't understand your customs, it's not my culture." The blond girl seemed to understand.

"I'm Ino." She introduced herself.

"I'm Sakura." The pink-haired girl added.

"Damn." Ryu cursed.

"Why damn?" Ino asked, confused.

"They told me Sakura was on Naruto and Sasuke's team, so I was hoping you were her." Ryu told the blonde-haired girl.

"I wish. I'm with Shikamaru and Choji." She admitted.

"Uhh…describe them?" Ryu asked.

"The fat one and the ponytail guy." Koinu informed her, knowing that they had much the same descriptions of people because of their culture.

"I don't know the fat one, but the ponytail guy passed and was in the dance hall, right?"

"Yea, Shikamaru passed." Ino told her, and there was a tone of sadness in her voice. "He was the only one on my team to who passed."

"So you didn't pass, oh well. I bet you still kicked ass." Ryu offered. The girl smiled.

"Yea, I bet I did."

"So, I didn't see you at any of the first parts of the Chuunin exam, how did you get into the dance?" Sakura demanded, inserting herself into the conversation.

"They let me in later on. I was on a mission during the first parts."

"That's not fair!" Sakura protested.

"God! Am I the only one that finds you annoying???" Ryu gasped.

"No." Sasuke assured her in an annoyed tone.

"Sasuke!" Sakura exclaimed. "How could you say something like that after I defended you!?"

"Tch. Whatever." He replied. Sakura stormed off.

"Yes!" Ryu exclaimed. "I would hug you for that Sasuke if I thought you would enjoy it in the least!" She added cheerfully. "Oh! I'm sorry, you two were together…that was completely rude of me, I'm sorry." She apologized to Ino, who laughed.

"We're not actually friends, I mean we used to be…but she decided we couldn't be friends because we both had a crush on Sasuke." Ino explained, glancing at Sasuke and then frowning when he didn't look at her.

"Geez Sasuke, you heartbreaker." Ryu teased. Sasuke didn't respond.

"He's never showed any interest in girls, sometimes I think he's gay." Koinu commented sarcastically. Ryu's thoughts flashed back to when she had stripped down into her bikini in front of him. He had watched, even for a second, she was sure of that.

"I don't think he's gay." She said, in a more thoughtful tone that she had intended. She looked up at Ino, and decided to add something for her benefit. "I think Sasuke and Ino would make such a cute couple, what do you think, Koinu?" Koinu caught on and replied.

"Adorable, don't you think so, Naruto?" Koinu asked him, hoping it would make it full circle back to Ino.

"I think Ino can do better." Naruto answered to what he honestly believed. Ryu slammed her head against a wall mentally. Sasuke made no effort to look at them.

"I tried." Ryu whispered to Ino, who nodded in thanks. They spent the rest of the day in the park, laughing and talking. At around five Ino said her goodbyes.

"I should probably at least make sure Sakura is ok." Ino admitted, and then turned to leave. "It was nice meeting you."

"You too!" Ryu called. Koinu stood up as well. "Aww, you're not leaving are you?"

"I'm not going a day without training. I have a little spot in the woods I like." She informed her, and then walked away. "Bright and early at the grounds tomorrow! And I don't care if Kakashi explodes and Toad Sage develops leukemia, no more days off!" Ryu laughed and consented. It was just Naruto, Sasuke, and her after a few moments. Ryu thought about how hard everyone worked, and she frowned.

"I wish I was as devoted as all of you." She told the boys next to her, sighing.

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked, thinking everyone worked pretty much the same as he did.

"Well, you, Sasuke, and Koinu are so devoted, you have such a desire to be strong. I've never felt that way about anything before." She explained. There was a moment of silence, and then Naruto spoke.

"You'll find something, maybe even someone, that you'll want to devote yourself to. I want to be Hokage, and I'll do anything it takes. Sasuke, well, you know…but once you find that thing, nothing else will matter as much." Naruto said quite insightfully. For being so dense sometimes, he could also have a brilliant perspective on things. She smiled and looked over at the sun, it was setting.

"Look!" She said, pointing softly. Naruto looked over, and even Sasuke turned his head.

"Wow." Naruto said, his eyes glued to the sky.

"Sometimes I think everyone runs around so much, they miss the little things in life." She commented. "I guess that's one advantage to not having the same drive that you two do, I get to sit back and really look at life, it's nice."

"It's not our fault." Sasuke replied, an angry tone in his voice. "You couldn't understand what it's like, growing up the way we did." He spat, looking the other way.

"You don't know anything about my childhood!" She exclaimed. "You don't think there's a reason I left my country?" Naruto remained silent, a thoughtful look on his face.

"You're the one who didn't tell me about your childhood, so don't complain." Sasuke retorted sarcastically.

"It's personal." She told him.

"And Itachi wasn't?!" Sasuke exclaimed.

"Itachi?" Naruto asked, confused. Ryu's eyes widened, she didn't realize how much of a secret it was.

"…that man." Sasuke clarified for Naruto. Naruto nodded.

"I'm here because there was no other option, at least not one I would take." She told Sasuke, not minding Naruto overhearing. "I am royalty, so that answers the question about my eyes."

"Wow!" Naruto exclaimed, grinning. "Did you have a castle and everything?"

"A castle and everything." She assured him smiling, but there was obvious sadness in her voice.

"So what happened?" Naruto asked quietly. Ryu turned to look at Sasuke to make sure he was listening. She smiled, he was focused on her intently.

"Well, a few months ago, I was told to do something I couldn't bring myself to do, so I went away." She explained, doing her best to be vague.

"What did they want you to do?" Naruto pressed.

"They wanted me to marry. I'd never met the guy of course and—"

"And your way too young!" Naruto exclaimed, "What kind of weirdo could ever ask you to do that?"

"My father." She said simply. Naruto frowned.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to call your father weird." He apologized. She laughed.

"My mother had died, so my father took power until I was old enough…but." She stopped, not wanting to continue.

"But?" Sasuke interjected.

"But it's late and I shouldn't stay up or it'll be a repeat of today." She said,

laughing. Naruto concentrated for a moment, and then spoke.

"That wasn't the whole story, why didn't you finish?" Naruto asked.

"Not today." She begged, frowning. "I don't want to go all emo on you." She laughed. Sasuke made his infamous "tch" noise and looked away.

"Alright, I'll see you when I see you then?" Naruto suggested. She nodded.

"Your always welcome at my house." She assured him, and then grinned. She gave him a hug goodbye, and then turned to Sasuke. _ Would it be worth it? _She debated, and decided on asking. "Hug?" She asked.

"No." Sasuke informed her. She decided it was worth annoying him and hugged him anyway before leaving. Sasuke twitched and flinched away, annoyed. She laughed.

"Bye!" She shouted back at them from halfway across the park. She kept walking until she had reached the familiar looking building she called home. Jumping up to her window, she let herself in and plopped down onto her bed. She wondered what would happen if she did like Sasuke. She imagined Ino and Sakura, and sighed. She didn't want to be like that. She squeezed her eyes shut defiantly. _I won't like him then. _She decided sleepily.


End file.
